The public is becoming more and more dependent on the personal computer (PC) as a place to store their important documents and memories. For example, photography has evolved from its paper and chemical beginnings to the electronically-stored digital images that are commonly used today. Digital photographs are typically transferred to a PC for printing and/or for long-term storage to free up memory resources on the digital camera. In addition, other important items such as legal documents, bills, and so forth, are now provided to users and stored electronically.
One of the benefits of storing data electrically is that the data can be transmitted, copied or deleted easily. When storing electrical information such as digital photographs, however, this benefit can become a problem. For example, some photographs are very valuable to a user because they pertain to a significant life moment (e.g., weddings, births, graduations, etc.). Electrically stored information, however, is quite susceptible to accidental or malicious problems. For example, a user could accidentally delete or write over the photographs, or accidentally render them inaccessible. In addition, a malicious party—by way of a virus or the like—could gain access to the photographs or may cause damage to the PC to the extent that the photographs are irretrievable.
As a result, the typical user would prefer to store the photographs in a manner that is at least as safe as storing the information in a conventional manner. For example, conventional photographs can be stored in a fire safe or at another family member's house; and a box of photographs is something that can easily be retrieved in event of a fire or flood.
Another problem with conventional methods of electrical information storage is that transportable storage media are not very protective of the information. A conventional method for storing electrical information in a transportable form is to save such information to a removable disk or CD-ROM. However, such media are neither fire-safe nor very secure, and are also not physically robust. For example, a CD-ROM is brittle and relatively delicate, and a removable disk is typically susceptible to accidental erasure when subject to magnetic fields. In contrast, a photo album for conventional photographs physically protects the information contained therein (i.e., the photographs) and is also easily transportable. Thus, what is needed is such a secure and physically robust device for storing electrical information.
In addition, with the proliferation of the Internet and other electronic communications systems, it is possible to access an enormous amount of information. In conventional photography and other media, it is common to create photo albums, or the like, of certain events. Sometimes, it is desirable to place additional information such as news clippings to provide a historical context for the event captured in the photographs. Conventionally, a user that wishes to include such historical information in an electronic format independently searches for the information to download and store for display with digital photographs and the like. Presently, there is no suitable method for identifying and retrieving such information in a manner that can be automatically tailored to a particular life moment to effectively create a life album or the like. In addition, there is no acceptable way of securely storing such information once it is retrieved.
Accordingly, in light of the above shortcomings and drawbacks, what is needed is a method for electronically identifying and retrieving specified, significant life events. More particularly, what is needed is method for storing such identified life events in a specialized, secure location that resists deletion or destruction.